Dear Colleagues,
James Davis, President of the Professional Staff Congress, notified members yesterday that a memorandum of agreement for a new collective bargaining contract was reached with the management of the City University of New York. Below is his email. Additional details are available at: https://psc-cuny.org/issues/contract-apeoplescuny/ta-2023-2027/.
Congratulations to all involved in the negotiations.
A welcome Christmas present!
Tony
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The PSC’s Bargaining Team and Executive Council have voted unanimously to recommend a strong new contract for ratification! The tentative agreement provides across-the-board raises of 13.4%, compounded, retroactive pay, additional equity raises for many of our lowest-paid colleagues, and a ratification bonus for full-time PSC members of $3000, prorated for part-timers. The agreement prioritizes raises and gains for all PSC members and provides additional equity raises for our lowest-paid full-time, adjunct, and graduate assistant colleagues. Faculty and staff at the top of their salary schedules will see extra pay as well. The proposed contract secures new paths to promotion and additional support for professional development, and it reconstructs a new adjunct multi-year appointment agreement targeted by management for elimination. The agreement respects the quality and importance of our work, critical for providing quality education and services for CUNY students.
If the proposed agreement is recommended for ratification by the Delegate Assembly on December 19, it will be up to every eligible rank-and-file dues-paying member to decide and vote to ratify it. Below are major advances and economic gains.
Major Advances & Economic Gains
- Agreement spans 4 years and 9 months from, 3/1/23 to 11/30/27
- Across-the-board salary increases of 13.4% compounded, with retroactive pay
- 3.0% on 3/1/23
- 3.0% on 4/1/24
- 3.25% on 9/1/25
- 3.5% on 9/1/26
- $3000 ratification bonus for full-time positions, prorated for part-time titles
- The minimum pay for an adjunct will increase 29.1% from $5500 to $7100 per three contact hour course, and 37.7% from $6,875 to $9,467 per four contact hour course, over the term of the contract, as hourly compensation is changed in 2027 to per course compensation.
- Additional equity raises for CUNY’s lowest-paid instructional titles: Assistants to HEO, CLIP and CUNY Start Instructors, Graduate Assistants, Non-Teaching Adjuncts, Adjunct CLTs, and Continuing Education Teachers.
- Effective 3/1/2027, additional $1250 salary increases for members who are on the top step of a salary schedule who are not already receiving an equity raise greater than $1250. Top-step Assistants to HEO will receive the $1250 instead of the $1000 equity increase.
- On September 1, 2026, a $2500 lump sum for Lecturers/Doctoral Lecturers upon attainment of a Certificate of Continuous Employment (CCE), or for those who already have a CCE.
- Promotional track from Lecturer/Doctoral Lecturer to new titles, Senior Lecturer/Senior Doctoral Lecturer.
- Guaranteed increase of at least one salary step upon promotion or reclassification.
- Eligibility for $2500 Assignment Differentials for full-time CLT and Senior CLT titles at the top salary step.
- Additional contributions of over $4 million in our PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund over the term of the contract, protecting and improving benefits.
- Allowing department chairs, GC Executive Officers, and SPS directors to roll over up to $6,000 of their Department Chair Research Awards and additional time to use the accumulated funds.
- HEO Assistants who have a masters degree or a PhD in a field related to their work will receive Salary Differentials of $1000 and $2500, respectively
- Workload credit for pay and benefits for adjuncts teaching “jumbo” courses, based on department and unit practice.
Major Non-Economic Gains
- A new multi-year appointment provision for teaching adjuncts that allows for two-year appointments with an additional third year at the college’s discretion and grandfathers in incumbent adjuncts on multi-year appointments
- Protections against outsourcing of teaching faculty/instructors of record to individuals outside of instructional staff or artificial intelligence
- For the first time, SEEK and College Discovery directors will be included in the PSC bargaining unit
- Extension of time for professional staff to use annual leave days from August 31 to December 31
- Expansion of Paid Parental Leave for full-time faculty and staff from 8 to 12 weeks, starting 3/1/25.
- PSC-CUNY Research Award restructured, increasing awards and expanding access to course release time.
- New Post-Tenure Reassigned Time Pilot Program for assistant and associate professors.
- Notification on the outcome of HEO reclassification requests will now be provided within 90 days of submission of application. There will now be at least one PSC-named HEO-series member on each College HEO Committee.
- Enhanced benefits and, for the first time, two-year appointments for CLIP and CUNY Start titles
- End to sabbatical quota for Hunter College Campus Schools faculty, with up to 100% pay for sabbatical.
- New college-based labor-management committees to address local health and safety workplace issues
- For the first time, HEO-series titles who have accumulated compensatory time may, through a defined process, either utilize the time or, by mutual agreement, receive pay for the extra hours worked.
- Expand eligibility for faculty stipends of up to $10,000 for defined projects to include adjuncts for the purpose of developing online and hybrid courses with an asynchronous component.
Labor-management committees for continued discussion
There are several issues around which we did not find agreement with CUNY administration, but instead secured a commitment to continue discussions under the new contract. These include:
- Graduate Assistant terms and conditions of employment
- Educational Opportunity Center workload
- Medical school faculty terms and conditions of employment
- Part-timer paid parental leave
- Procedures around job abandonment and unpaid leave of over a year
- Library faculty reassigned time
- Clinical professor and distinguished lecturer terms and conditions of employment
- Enhanced opportunities for members in the CLT and Senior CLT titles to receive promotions.
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